Becoming pregnant: Navigating your journey towards parenthood
A guide to your fertility journey
The desire to have children marks the beginning of a new chapter for many couples. Together, they want to start a family and become loving parents. This emotional journey towards parenthood is characterized by excitement, hope, and individual challenges.
After discontinuing contraception, many couples hope for an immediate pregnancy. However, the miracle often unfolds at a pace slower than expected.
Nonetheless, this is by no means a cause for concern. It is completely normal to have regular, unprotected intercourse for up to twelve months before achieving the desired pregnancy. In about 90% of couples trying to conceive, it happens within a year (1).
Exercising patience, maintaining confidence, and timing intercourse appropriately are paramount. Hence, familiarizing yourself with your cycle and ovulation timing is crucial to heighten the likelihood of pregnancy.
If pregnancy doesn't occur immediately, it can often result in significant emotional strain for couples, with the initial excitement quickly giving way to stress. To ensure you can savor this precious time with your partner, we're committed to offering you the best possible support and invaluable tips.
Which measures are important before a potential pregnancy?
When you and your partner decide to start a family, it's wise to discuss your plans with your gynecologist. Together, you can address crucial topics like maintaining adequate physical activity and adopting to help prime your body for potential pregnancy.
It's also recommended to take supplementary vitamins like folic acid (vitamin B9) and vitamin D to ensure proper nourishment for both you and your future baby.
Moreover, this is an opportune moment to quit unhealthy habits like smoking and excessive alcohol consumption.
Your gynecologist will be there to assist you with any important queries regarding conception and swiftly address any uncertainties.
What can you do to get pregnant faster?
To support you during your fertility journey, it's important to determine the optimal time for potential fertilization.
A thorough understanding of your is particularly important. Comprehensive cycle understanding not only helps you understand the phases of your cycle better but also promotes overall well-being of your body.
How can cycle monitoring help with conception?
One of the initial steps you can take when trying to conceive is to enhance your understanding of your menstrual cycle through cycle tracking.
Often, the delay in achieving pregnancy is not due to physical factors but rather a lack of grasp on the right timing. Given that you're fertile for only about six days during your cycle, accurately determining ovulation is imperative.
How can you identify ovulation and understand your cycle?
To discern and the different phases of your cycle, you can monitor your basal body temperature. fluctuates throughout your cycle under the influence of the hormone progesterone.
A subtle elevation in your body temperature can accurately pinpoint ovulation. Employing the temperature method enables you to ascertain whether and when ovulation occurs.
This not only assists in determining the optimal time for intimacy with your partner, but also aids in understanding the regularity of your cycle. By gaining a better understanding of your body, you can alleviate uncertainties and stress.
You can monitor your basal temperature using a basal thermometer or a menstrual cycle computer.
Our menstrual cycle tracker, Daysy, automatically indicates your fertile window. To effortlessly support you during your fertility journey, you simply measure your temperature every morning before getting up. Subsequently, Daysy displays your fertile and non-fertile days using a red or green light. Your predicted ovulation day is clearly indicated through a red blinking light on the device.
Tracking and recording this data is effortless with the companion DaysyDay app.
What significance does cervical mucus have when trying to conceive?
can provide you with indications of the various phases of your cycle. Just before , cervical mucus becomes more liquid and stretchy. This special consistency facilitates the passage of sperm through the cervix and supports their viability.
In conjunction with monitoring basal body temperature, cervical mucus is an intriguing aspect of family planning. Understanding your cervical mucus can be an additional tool to comprehend your fertility and increase your chances of pregnancy.
Enjoying quality time together and finding the optimal moment.
As you embark on your exciting journey toward parenthood, creating shared moments of intimacy and preserving the joy of your togetherness is crucial.
While you delve deeply into your cycle and ovulation, you can explore these insights together. By observing your basal temperature and tracking your fertility window, you can deliberately plan romantic dates during the fertile phases.
This consciously shared time of intimacy will deepen your bond and give you the feeling that your relationship is not solely dependent on a mere schedule for parenthood, but rather characterized by a deeper connection.
When should you seek medical assistance while trying to conceive?
If, despite having intercourse during the fertile window for a year, conception doesn't occur, it's advisable to consult your gynecologist.
Since ovarian reserves decline with age, the timing of medical intervention depends on the woman's age.
Up to the age of 32, attempts for up to a year are completely normal. Because fertility treatments have better chances of success if started earlier, it's sensible to consult a doctor after six months for women over 32 (2).
If you already have a comprehensive understanding of your cycle and have collected data in the associated DaysyDay app, this can be extremely helpful during your fertility journey. With ease, you can directly transmit your collected cycle data to your doctor through the app. This enables medical professionals to promptly identify potential issues such as lack of ovulation or a short luteal phase.
It's important to emphasize that both men and women should have their fertility examined. Men should consult a specialist in urology or andrology to rule out any potential issues.
With this said, it's generally advisable to consult a doctor whenever you feel uncertain or have questions.
What are possible causes of unfulfilled fertility desires?
Unfulfilled fertility desires are undoubtedly a complex and emotionally challenging issue. Physiological, psychological, and lifestyle factors are intertwined in its complexity.
By exploring the potential reasons for infertility, you not only gain a deeper understanding of your situation, but also the ability to take concrete steps to cope.
Don't be discouraged, as each step on this journey brings you closer to your desire for a child.
What could be the physiological causes for infertility?
There could be various reasons behind the physical causes of unwanted infertility.
For example, hormonal imbalances can affect the female hormonal system, leading to inadequate egg maturation, lack of ovulation, or insufficient preparation of the uterine lining for implantation (3).
Conditions like (4) and hormonal disorders of the pituitary gland are often underlying causes (5).
If you track your cycle using , you can already discern from the temperature curve whether ovulation is present and how regularly it occurs. From this, you can draw important conclusions about hormonal balance.
Moreover, adhesions or can also be reasons for infertility (5).
It's crucial to emphasize that this listing is not exhaustive, and there are other potential physiological causes that can affect fertility. Therefore, you should definitely consult your doctor to discuss possible causes together and find suitable treatment options.
What psychological causes could be the reason for infertility?
While physiological factors play a significant role in fertility, psychological causes can also have a profound impact.
If no physical causes can be found, the psychological pressure to conceive can cause stress and disappointment. Additionally, this emotional burden and fear can also strain the partnership.
Chronic stress or depression, accompanied by irregular sleep or eating habits, can also cause fertility problems.
Any type of excessive stress can disrupt your hormonal balance and disturb your hormones. These are essential for ovulation, implantation, and early embryonic development.
If the topic of fertility is distressing you, it's crucial that you seek psychological help as well. Therapeutic counseling or stress management strategies can help you cope with the situation and improve your mental well-being.
How can age affect your fertility?
At the beginning of life, you have approximately one million eggs, the number of which gradually decreases throughout your life (6).
Many women nowadays choose to become mothers later in life due to longer periods of education or other life circumstances. As the number and quality of eggs decrease over time, fertility declines from the early thirties (6).
Nevertheless, it's important not to give up on your desire for children even at an advanced age and not to lose hope. Thanks to advances in reproductive medicine, there are now a variety of options that can help you get pregnant.
Moreover, in later years can help increase the chances of pregnancy. As fertility declines, regular measurement of basal temperature can help track ovulation and identify your fertile days.
How can your lifestyle influence your fertility? Smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and unhealthy eating are lifestyle choices that can have significant effects on fertility and lead to unfulfilled desires for children. These habits can, for example, result in the absence of ovulation. Likewise, being overweight or underweight, certain diets, and intense athletic training can impair your fertility (3).
During the fertility journey, it's especially important to pay attention to your body's signals. A conscious lifestyle balances your body and helps eliminate potential obstacles to pregnancy.
Male fertility
When it comes to the fertility journey, it's crucial to consider both female and male fertility. Factors such as the quality and quantity of sperm and hormonal imbalances play an important role.
If you are trying to conceive, both you and your partner should seek medical advice. This will enable you to acquire a thorough understanding of your fertility and collaborate on strategies to fulfill your dream of having children.
What steps can you take if you are struggling with infertility?
Initially, try not to place pressure on yourself. It's completely normal for physically healthy couples to go through a longer period without contraception before achieving pregnancy. If, despite cycle tracking and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, you still were not able to conceive, it's advisable for both of you to seek medical advice.
The guidance of healthcare professionals is essential in navigating your situation. Dealing with infertility can be emotionally draining, and identifying underlying causes and available treatment options can help alleviate feelings of despair.
Your self-collected knowledge about your menstrual cycle, combined with further medical evaluations, will assist in pinpointing potential causes of fertility issues. Subsequently, your doctor can recommend appropriate treatment options or refer you to a fertility clinic.
How can a fertility clinic assist you?
Fertility clinics offer comprehensive diagnostic and treatment services. If natural conception is not achievable, they provide support through various treatments, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) or insemination.
IVF entails fertilizing an egg with sperm outside the body, with the resulting embryo transferred to the woman's uterus to enhance the likelihood of pregnancy. In insemination, sperm is directly inserted into the woman's cervix, fallopian tubes, or uterus to facilitate fertilization.
With hope and confidence, let’s embark on the journey to parenthood together.
Struggling with unfulfilled desires for children can be emotionally challenging. While it's tough to stay positive, we are here to provide hope and strength. Each journey to parenthood is as individual as the women experiencing it, underscoring the importance of comprehensive emotional and psychological support.
We aspire that Daysy can play a part in moving you towards your happiness and wish you abundant confidence throughout this thrilling yet challenging phase of your fertility journey.
Sources:
(2)https://www.aok.de/pk/magazin/familie/schwangerschaft/was-kann-man-bei-kinderwunsch-beachten/
(3)https://www.frauenaerzte-im-netz.de/erkrankungen/unfruchtbarkeit/ursachen/
(5)https://www.profamilia.de/themen/unerfuellter-kinderwunsch
(6)https://www.gesundheit.gv.at/leben/eltern/kinderwunsch/kinderwunsch-alter-spielt-eine-rolle.html